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J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece
Grove Press
January 2011
On Sale: January 4, 2011
336 pages
ISBN: 0802145248
EAN: 9780802145246
Paperback
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Non-Fiction
The ironies of artistic genius and public taste are subtly
explored in this winding, entertaining tale of a musical
masterpiece. Music critic Siblin parallels short, fluent
biographies of composer Johann Sebastian Bach, whose six
suites for solo cello were long disparaged as minor student
exercises, and cello virtuoso Pablo Casals, whose landmark
recording of the pieces catapulted them into the classical
canon. Their lives are a study in contrasts: Bach is an
obscure workaday musician who feels wasted being merely the
cantor of a Lutheran boarding school; Casals, a musical
superstar and anti-Fascist exile, is a romantic hero. Siblin
intertwines his own story of trying to engage with the
suites. He takes cello lessons, savors a rich variety of
performances, including one on the marimbas, and embarks on
a search for Bach's long-lost manuscript to discover clues
to the enigmatic score. (Scholars aren't even certain the
suites were written for cello.) Siblin is an insightful
writer with an ability to convey the sound and emotional
impact of music in words. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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